Mental Health & Nature
Cornell students face anxiety and depression but don’t have adequate solutions to provide the help that they need. As a designer on a team, I learned about student struggles related to mental illness then planned and blueprinted a greenhouse study space to address this issue in a novel way.
PROBLEM SCOPE
Cornell students are affected by anxiety and depression during the school year but experience a disconnect from available resources.
CONTEXTUAL INTERVIEWS
Our goal was to devise a non-clinical solution that addresses anxiety and depression in students in a way that minimizes barriers to receiving help.
Through observation and interviews, we learned about Cornell students’ experiences with mental health
LITERATURE REVIEW
There is research in ecotherapy, ecopsychology, horticultural therapy, nature assisted therapy, and adventure therapies to combat mental health issues, chronic disease, and more.
Many students would benefit from alternative options to clinical-based services. We became particularly interested in the relationship between mental health and nature as a non-clinical option. We explored this space to see how we could incorporate it into Cornell students’ lives.
Touchology
Happy Light
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
01.
What impacts do certain environments have on students’ feelings of safety versus negative emotion?
02.
How likely are students to visit these environments in their daily life?
03.
What do students view as resources?
RESEARCH METHOD 1
We used digitally-accessible cultural probes as a study technique to approach discussion on mental health in a way that was not invasive, uncomfortable, or overwhelming.
RESEARCH METHOD 2
Rapid ethnography research helped us learn more about students’ interactions with nature and environments already on campus.
We chose rapid ethnography as our second design method to observe students’ interactions with nature and explore our own interactions. Many students had never been to the greenhouse because they didn’t have time to explore and weren’t even aware of the existence of on-campus greenhouses.
Key Findings
Students…
are embarrassed or ashamed of their mental illnesses
are concerned about their future
have negative associations with Cornell campus buildings
value being around good people/friends and meeting good people
are negatively affected if they are around people in the wrong environment
value nature and traveling
are interested in actively tending to and interacting with plants
DESIGN SOLUTION
Our final design is a medium-sized greenhouse study space in which students can do their work but are also surrounded by plants and can learn about or interact with them. The greenhouse lets significant levels of natural light for students to reap the benefits of sunlight.
01.
Addresses mental health without stigma
02.
Meets students’ academic needs
03.
Minimizes social pressures
04.
Provides natural resources
VIDEO PROTOTYPE